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Welp, even if I’m not doing so great at getting out there and taking photos right now, at least I’m still submitting things to shows here and there. I’m happy to say that two more of my photos have been selected for another show at the Bowie City Hall!

This one was a fun one — artist’s choice! So I went through a couple of my favorite photos from this year, and two out of three were chosen. The other one was too large, unfortunately, but at least it was too large because they had such a huge response this time. I’m glad that more people were participating in this show, because that always makes things fun!

So enjoy, and if you’re in the area on the 29th, stop by and check out my stuff!

Since I’ve been just terrible at keeping up with my 2016 challenge, I though I would get myself back on track by posting another project that I did in my Alternative Photography class this semester. I’m about to take off to Florida again, so don’t worry, I’ll have plenty of new pictures, and I’m sure that will motivate me to get back into the swing of things!

Palladium printing. Doesn’t that just sound yummy? I love all of these old processes, and I’m so thankful that I was able to try out so many of them. This was a particularly interesting demonstration/project, because we actually had a guest speaker/palladium printing expert come in and spend the class with us. Robert Kozma is an amazing photographer, and it was great to have a talk, demonstration, and time to work with him. We had a chance to view a wide variety of his work, which was truly beautiful; it’s clear that he has an immense understanding of the medium. His work had a richness and crispness, while maintaining a warmth that simply made me fall in love with yet another process. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a website for him, but click around on my google search here if you’re interested in browsing around through various bits of his portfolio. It’s well worth it.

This was quite the extensive class session, and one of the only times I would say that the allotted six hours was not enough. I know, I must be joking, right? But with trying to teach about 20 people a new process, coat paper, let it dry, expose, develop, and then give it another try, the time pretty much flew by. Luckily, my friend and I were one of the first ones to get started, hence, one of the few who were actually able to test things out and make more than one or two prints. With that, I have three of the same print. It’s something that I’m not always fond of doing, since I was surprisingly happy with the first version, but I’m glad that I did it for this process. We made some adjustments to the mixture of all the different chemistry involved, double coated some sheets of paper, diluted some mixtures with water, and changed exposure times. It’s quite interesting just how different your print will show up with just minor changes to these things. I also have one single print, which was just an experiment with a piece of paper which we didn’t finish coating. It’s a little lighter than I would like, but I’m glad I tried it out anyways. Aside from this being an expensive material to waste, which I hate doing, it’s great to see a more drastic variation as a result of chemistry application.

The photos themselves were taken the last time I was in Florida. My friend and I always like to try and venture out to interesting little (free) places, and we stumbled upon Lake Eola. I wasn’t quite a fan of the idea of just going to a lake that was clearly amidst a bunch of office buildings in the middle of Orlando, but I was intrigued by the fact that there was supposedly a ton of swans at this lake. I have to say, I was not disappointed. There were tons of swans! As soon as you enter the park, they’re lounging in the grass and bushes, swimming in the lake, and are not shy about being around people, or even coming up to you. With that, I was able to get some pretty good close up photos of them, as well as the ducks and other birds at the park. If you’re ever in the area, and want a relaxing place to hang out an enjoy the sights, I would recommend it.

So here are my prints, aka, four more reasons why I want to take this class again! I’m in love with them all for different reasons, so you be the judge. Which one wins out? Enjoy!

So I decided to do a little switch-a-roo on which photo challenge I’m working with. I’m still going to stick to the main one for the most part, but am taking lead from Jenna Martin’s photo challenge for this one. Week 7 for the other challenge just hasn’t worked itself out yet, but I wanted to keep the ball rolling.

Black and white — because you really can never have enough of these types of images. I know, I know, I just did a Black and White Landscape post a few weeks ago, but oh well. This one is going to be a little landscapey also, but it’s going to include two of my favorite things: my newly learned panorama skills, and vacation 🙂

While sadly, I’m back in class, in the cooler Maryland climate, I still have all my warm memories of Florida from…well….Monday, and plenty of pictures to edit. On of my favorite little places to go while I’m there is Sanford. It’s a cute little lake front town with shops and a walk way right on the water. Of course, it’s also one of my favorite photo places while I’m there, so I was snapping away last week.

The weather was a little gloomy my first day there, but I have to say, I think it made for a good backdrop and added a little drama. You know I’m always looking for the old and abandoned, and I pass plenty of that whenever I’m in Florida. While Sanford isn’t the place for that, per sey, they do have these old docks, which are kind of falling apart and are too far away for anyone to reach. They’re useless, essentially, and I love them. Sanford also has really great, old, trees, filled with Spanish moss, so I feel like that kind of follows the old and abandoned theme, don’t you?

wide view

and the vertical version

love these trees!

It’s also fun to see all the different wildlife that comes to one little place. There’s the usual suspects – the ducks and the Ibis — but then there were some new ones. The “Common Grackle” made an appearance, and in great numbers. I’ve never seen them at my little duck feeding spot before, but they definitely knew where the food was at! There were swarms of them, and while they were “singing”, it became pretty clear as to how they got their name; they were pretty squawky. At least what they lack in subtlety they make up for in beauty. They were a deep black, but with patches of iridescent feathers that shined in the sunlight. While you’re losing the interesting colors in these black and white photos, the shine comes through quite well. I’m sure I’ll share some colorful versions of these photos sooner or later, anyways 🙂 So while I’m missing Florida, and busy planning my next vacation, enjoy the photos!

So I decided to go in a little bit of a different direction for this week’s theme. Never mind that I’m a little late — I’m working on that. I think I’m going to be perpetually busy for the next few months, but I digress. While thinking about what to do, I started Googling “headshots” for inspiration. Low and behold! Did you know that people aren’t the only subjects of heatshot photos? I’ve stumbled across a whole section of animal headshot, and decided that’s just what I’ll do, especially since I had a ton of photos from Florida of animals (well, birds mostly) that I haven’t had a chance to work on.

In going to the usual places, there were the usual subjects; ducks (baby ducks! So cute!), seagulls, squirrels and so on. But during this visit, I was out and about with the mentality of “photographer” in mind! So as I was walking around throughout my trip, I was lucky to snap a couple good shots of those usual suspects, and pretty close up as well.

There were a few odd balls in the bunch, however, as well as a crazy feeding frenzy that I found myself in the middle of! As for the odd balls, the birds much have been hungry, because I’ve never seen so many fishing birds over such a short amount of time. Maybe that’s because I’m never looking as frequently as I was during the trip, but I’m sticking with them being hungry this time. I saw this awesome little Snowy Egret who was fishing like a pro – fish after tiny fish — he was having a feast! While at the beach that day, I also saw one of my little favorites, a Least Sandpiper, and something I always like to find, a crab! He was a spider crab, which is different than what I usually see in Ocean City, so it was neat to find something new.

We also made a stop by the aquarium, which is place where I’ve never taken photos before. I’ve always had reservations about photographing animals in contained habitats. It just seems too easy, you know? There’s no excitement in catching them out in the wild, and hoping to get the perfect shot. However, a girl in one of my classes last semester when to the aquarium to get photos of jelly fish, and I have to admit, I was jealous. So, off we went, and along with the jelly fish photos, I snapped a couple shark photos as well, because let’s be real, I’ll probably never swim with them in the wild. Well, never say never I suppose. It may be crazy, but it’s definitely on my bucket list.

As for the feeding frenzy, we went to the beach on my last day there, and my friend was wise enough (and sneaky, because I had no idea) to bring some bread to feed the seagulls. I know, I know, you’re never supposed to feed them, because they go crazy, but in this case, it was pretty amazing. They started off pretty cautious, not getting to close to us as she threw bread in their directions. It was only a few minutes, if even that long, before they were swarming around us, and even taking bread directly out of my friend’s hand. So, half scared that I was going to get pooped on (because if you didn’t know, they’re notorious for that), and have really amazed at how crazy they were acting, I started snapping away. I have to say, out of all the unusual birds that I saw, these seagulls were my favorite. What are normally nuisances around the beach turned out to be some pretty majestic models, if you ask me!

Hopefully this counts, but either way, the point is I worked on some photos for this week. I mean, technically, there are faces, just not human faces? So, animal headshots it is…..even though that sounds weird, like hunting weird. Ok, so we’ll just say animal close ups, with a focus on their face? Enjoy!

Just as I thought I was getting caught up again, I’m weeks behind. So sorry! Things were insane last week — projects and papers and homework, oh my. It seriously was an overloaded week, and I was consumed for a while leading up to it.

Back to business now — let’s try to get back in the swing of things.

So I still had a few photos tucked away in my “52 week arsenal” for these subjects, which I took on my last trip to the beach. I know, I’m milking it, but really, it’s some of my favorite type of photography, and when I can get a couple different views from a place which I photograph so often, I’ll happily share them with you.

What I’m also happy about is that the themes for these two weeks, “from afar” and “tiny world” work very nicely together. While at the beach, along with the other themes of muted tones and perfect pairs which I tried to keep in mind, I thought of these as well.

I always enjoy the sunrise and sunset photos, but I’m also always looking for something different. It could be anything from a little seaweed or drift wood which has washed up, some interesting shells and rocks, piers and structures on the bay side, or any type of wildlife, if I’m lucky to see something. You get to see the occasional sand piper and the frequently visiting seagulls, which I always appreciate, but I love when I get more variety. Luckily for me and my family, there were some rare sightings this trip!

To begin, the sunrises are always beautiful, and often attract the aforementioned birds. While I was snapping away, however, I was thoroughly annoyed by the people who were standing right in the middle of the sunrise, blocking the usual unobstructed view I try to get. Then I started noticing how tiny they were in comparison to the whole scene, and decided if they weren’t going to move, that I’ll work with it.

Along with their silhouettes in the photos, we were also happy to see that some dolphins decided to stop by for a visit. You’re more likely to see them right at dawn than at any other time of the day, but even so, they don’t show up all the time. They were also very active; jumping completely out of the water, and full of energy. Try as I might, I wasn’t able to capture the true “action shot of their jumping, but I did catch a few shots of them popping up on the surface a little more than usual.

The next day while we were in the middle of our fishing craziness, we got another surprise, and this was a big one. My mother, the usual spectator when we’re doing things like fishing, was walking around the beach, checking out the view, and looking around for shells and things. All of a sudden she yells “Hey! I think I see something out there!” Of course, we stop what we’re doing, fishing lines cast and all, and start searching the waves for something. “No, it’s waaaaaaayyyyy out there!” On the search again. Then right at the horizon line, I see this large flash of while. I was completely at a loss for what it was. A boat? Some strange reflection? It was just this long while object jetting out of the water occasionally. Very strange. We stare at it for a few more minutes before I finally say that I think it’s a whale. A few people start gathering around, and when they don’t see it right away, they wander off. Then he breached, and it was an amazingly huge breach. Of course, I scream at the top of my lungs “it’s a whaaaaleeeeeeee!!!!!!!!”, and everyone comes running back. I’ve only had one other whale sighting in Ocean City, and that was a pretty crazy story, too, so it was exciting to see this. We watched in awe for the next few minutes before I finally ran to get my camera. Even with obsessively trying to photography all things interesting, at least I can say that I still know how to sit back and enjoy a moment once in a while. So with my lens all the way zoomed, I tried my best to get a picture, but he was just too far. I mean, you can still tell that it’s a whale, clearly, but it’s blurry. And the frustrating thing about that? I just swapped lenses that morning and left the big one in the room, because, what in the world am I going to need that for on the beach, fishing? Well, apparently, a whale. I’m not complaining though. I’m happy to have seen him, and won’t stress over the picture quality. Either way, he was beautiful, and this clearly works as something “from a far”, much more so than the dolphins during sunrise.

zoomed in!

He’s way out there!

So needless to say, it was a wonderful little get away, as brief as it was. I’m always a little sad when I’m going to the beach for only a couple of days. I know, I sound so unappreciative — but leaving makes my heartbreak, so I can’t help but be consumed by the fact that I’m leaving soon the whole time I’m there. What makes it better are when the short trips work out like this; lots of fun times and memorable experiences, as well as the “favorites” that we have to do any time we visit. So with that, I’ll leave you with the sunset, and one more photo from afar.

I love it when people have just the right things to say. I also like it when something gets me right in the feels, for lack of a better word, and catches me off guard when they do. I got that from one of my professors the other day, so I’d thought I’d share a little more about it with you.

It’s been a crazy few weeks since starting school, as I’m sure you’re well aware by my constant reminders. But even with all the craziness, it’s been filled with some pretty great moments. First off, everyone thinks that I’m 21…max! I’m even being mistaken for a teenager, which makes me question some things, but I’ll still take it as a great compliment. I’m finally starting to feel a little more comfortable, and that I may be someone who is on-par with this “art world” that I’ve flung myself in to. Yes, I know I made it in to MICA, and that should be reassurance enough, but it isn’t. “They”, the powers that be at MICA, even send out emails, or did at least, to new students telling them just that — “don’t be scarred/intimidated/depressed/stressed/etc…you made it here, and that means a lot!” When coming from the world of strict business attire,where the only creativity being expressed was that of craftily written procedure or performance review, it’s hard to see yourself amounting to anything creative. No matter how bad I want to succeed at this, I’m essentially terrified.

When I think about where I came from, the life of banking, management, stress, abuse, and all things wrong in a corporate environment, I have two feelings that have stuck around: abandonment, and escape. Pretty conflicting thoughts, don’t you think? As if my feelings towards them weren’t complicated enough, they still continue to be, even almost a year and a half leaving. I suppose some of the emotions you could equate to this would be depression, anxiety, PTSD, failure,….freedom and relief? Like I said, it’s complicated. I whole heartedly gave over 10 years of my life to this company, only to be targeted, bullied, and attacked. And when I fell ill as a result of this, they didn’t care at all, and wanted nothing more to do with me. Don’t get it twisted though, no matter how it may sound, I played the hand I was dealt the best I could, and ended up resigning. Some what reluctantly, but still, it was my choice to leave — at least they didn’t get that satisfaction. Either way, it was a heartbreaking change, even though at the same time I wanted to do something different with my life. I wanted to make it better, but I was terrified of failing.

But like I said, you have to play the cards you’re dealt, and my game had just changed. So I decided, why not, apply for this school that I’ve been wanting to go to forever. I was just about to finish up my associates degree, because I could only handle baby steps, and didn’t see myself making it this far. Going to school, an art school, to get a Bachelor’s degree seemed unobtainable for me. After getting in, it was then the financial aspects that had me burdened, because let’s face it, you can’t pay for the “ivy league of art schools” on a non-existent salary. No one was excited about the news except a few, literally few, friends, so in trying to be realistic about it, I didn’t let myself get excited about it, or celebrate. I’m 30, and just got my first college acceptance letter in the mail, I should be excited. Oh, wait, except for the fact that I’ll be 30….in college…with teenagers — another issue of concern. I convinced myself I was too old, and just needed to buckle down and get a “real job”. Oh, and back to the no job thing, I had to move out of my apartment, my safe haven, my home….my life was falling apart when it should have been on the up and up.

So I decided not to go, and things got dark, really dark, and fast. I started looking for banking jobs, admin jobs, anything office job like, and to no avail. What was the end of an already incredibly depressed year, I was even worse for the wear. Then a friend hired me to bake a cake and photograph her wedding, and another friend asked me to photograph her baby, and it felt great doing things that were artistic, and that I got paid for! Imagine that. I figured, as the deadline for the deposit was fast approaching, I’ll just take this money to pay for the deposit. As irresponsible as it may be, and even though it’s most likely only delaying the inevitable, I’ll have a little more time to pretend that this is still an option.

In the mean while, I still looked for “normal” jobs, but also worked on art, this blog (yay), craft fairs, and school stuff — scheduling, talking to advisors, financial aid, and so on. I had it all figured out, except how to pay for just a little bit of it. So annoying. With all the work I did, this little percentage of tuition that I couldn’t come up with was going to hold me back. I begged family to help, co-sign, anything, but they resisted, insisting that I needed to get off this vacation mode and get my life back together. I have to say, my family has an interesting perspective of what vacation is if my life was the model for it. Then, out of the blue, my parents, though they were very clear that they disapproved of my idea/plan/decisions/everything, that they wanted me to be happy. What? Seriously? I was dumbfounded, but took their help as quickly as possible. Though I have to hear about it all the time now, I’m thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to give this a go, even if the future of it seems uncertain.

So then I’m finally there! Orientation. Oh my God….can I say that it was exponentially worse than I expected? The school and facilities seemed nice, but the people — some of the other students are down right…..just, immature, and not good people, and incredibly filled with entitlement, and unappreciative. It’s a little astounding, and overwhelming. I felt like crying, and leaving, and never coming back, but I knew I couldn’t let these people, who really didn’t do anything to me except make my age difference become even more apparent, control what was going to be my outcome of going here. So I did what I knew I would do, what I always do. I worked.

It felt great to finally have something consume my life again. While it was nice being away from work, it was pretty boring at times, even with all my little projects that I tried to fill my time with. Not only that, but I actually started working again, and not at some terrible place that was irrelevant to what my goals were. I’m busy again, and it’s a great feeling. I’m successful in this busyness, which is even a better feeling.

Even though the feedback from some of these professors has been minimal, I have enough information to come to the conclusion that I have an A in each of my six, count ’em, six classes. I would say yay, but I worked my ass off, and there is no yay for me when it comes to grades. I either get all A’s and am contempt with it because it’s the only acceptable outcome, or I flirt with the line between A and B, and I’m really mad about it. It’s about half way through the semester now, and I’ve received a couple of mid-term reviews, and hope to have a couple more. They’ve been informal, and though email, so it’s nice to have the feed back, because not having it drives me crazy, but it’s also a little impersonal. Lucky for me, I have one professor, my sculpture professor, who is very profession, and a great communicator. He set up mid-term review meetings with each of us, and actually sat us down to talk about our progress, grades, and future expectations. Now that gets a yay 🙂

So in that meeting, I heard some great things — I have an A+, something that he only gives out like once or twice a year. How unexpected. What else was unexpected was that he told me that I took to sculpture like “a fish to water”. I have to say, out of all the classes I signed up for this semester, this was the one I was most apprehensive about. I never work three-dimensionally, so this was all new for me, and in having such high expectations for my self and my grades, this was going to be a challenge. We chatted a little more, and he got the point of saying that he could tell that I was very dedicated. Of course — do you have any idea of what I had to go through to get here?! Of course not, I’m being irrational, and joking. I did say, however, that yes, I’m incredibly dedicated to being here. I went through hell with the life that I had before, and I’m never going back to that world. And then he said it…”Well, welcome to this one”. He went on to say, many more positive things, what expectations he had for me, and that he saw me doing great things, but that little sentence stuck out to me even more than that. I know that with the grades I’m getting in the school that I’m now attending that I should have more confidence in my work. It’s amazing to hear that he views me as an A+ student, a natural at this art, and that he, and incredibly successful artist in his own right, sees me being successful as well. But that welcome, as silly as it may seem, hit me hard. I’m here, I’m still in one piece, and I’m doing the thing that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m doing the thing that I pushed out of my mind for the last 15 years of my life. I’m doing something that will change my life. It’s hard to believe, but I am. I’m doing it. It’s crazy. Crazy good. I don’t ever have to go back to that life now, not if I don’t want to.

At the end of all my rambling, I’ve included some photos of things that I’ve been working on for various classes – sculpture, digital photo, studio lighting, and EMAC, which is like a sampling of all this electronic and digital in the art making world. I didn’t include anything from my art history classes, cause I figured you probably wouldn’t appreciate having papers shoved in your face to read. And it’s ok if you think some of these are a little wacky, cause to be honest, I do too, but I like them 🙂 And what I like even more, is that this is just the beginning of a change so grand that I can’t even imaging how great things will be when I finish. I imagine a very tear-filled graduation on my part, but only happy tears. So thanks for the welcome, and just so you know, there will never be a goodbye.

While there were many ideas buzzing around my head, I decided to go with what I know most, and what I love. What better thing could I photograph for the “heat wave” theme than a place that is always best served hot? Nothing is better than the beach!

Everything about the beach comes alive in the summer. In being as much of a beach fanatic as I am, I’ve been there in every possible weather imaginable. Yes, I’ve seen snow on the beach — it’s pretty, but not the same as a hot day! In the summertime, people and families are buzzing around, the city is packed, the places are busy, it’s just swarming with excitement and happiness. Not to mention the more natural beauties you get to see. There are dolphins, fish, and even the occasional whale sighting if you’re lucky (and this year, a lot of shark sightings, yikes). The plants are lush, and the marshy lands surrounding the bay side are full and green. There are countless sea birds of all different types, and plenty of different little crab critters. It just makes me happy to be there, seeing the environment so full of life, and the happiness of the people who are there, including my family.

And it’s hot! Like, sand burning your feet, can’t sit in the sun long hot! My family consists of a bunch of sunbathers, with the exceptions of my dad, who will burn to an immediate crisp. While he’s busy avoiding the sun, we’re out there roasting in it, practically running to the water when we can no longer take the heat. We stay out at the beach all day, also, which is probably my favorite part. While the sun may be nearly intolerable during the day at times, once you get to the 5 o’clock hour it’s like a warm, snuggly hug from nature. I sound like a dork, I know, but if you ever catch me lounging on the beach at this time I’m definitely facing the sun, and probably have a smile on my face. Love it.

So with the summer winding down, I’ll take a few moments to reminisce of all the hot days before the snow rears its ugly head. Enjoy!